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Kevin Hayes

Injury Notes: Heineman, Rutta, Hayes

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Montreal Canadians’ left winger Emil Heineman returned to the lineup tonight in an all-important matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, per Eric Engles of Sportsnet. He is slotted on the fourth line alongside Jake Evans and Joel Armia. Heineman has missed the last five games due to his upper-body injury.

In 61 games this season, the 23-year-old has produced 10 goals and 18 points. The 6’2, 200-pounder has also contributed 171 hits while maintaining a low amount of penalty minutes (20). His return comes after his second extended injury of the year. He previously missed five weeks with an upper-body injury sustained on a road trip in Utah when he was struck by a car. The Habs need a win against the Hurricanes to secure their place in the playoffs.

Other injury updates of note:

  • Veteran defender Jan Rutta was on the ice for the San Jose Sharks’ morning skate and could be inserted back into the lineup, per Max Miller of the Sharks Hockey Digest. Miller noted that Luca Cagnoni was sent back down to the AHL yesterday, perhaps clearing a path for Rutta’s return. Rutta missed nearly two months with a lower body injury before recently returning to the lineup. However, the team opted to sit Rutta out in game two of a back-to-back on Monday. Rutta recently expressed his desire to re-sign with the Sharks. The 34-year-old is set for free agency this summer but has enjoyed his opportunity to play in San Jose. On the season, Rutta has produced nine points, 80 blocked shots, and a minus-three rating.
  • Penguins’ forward Kevin Hayes is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury, NHL.com reporter Wes Crosby. With Pittsburgh having one game remaining on the season (Thursday against the Capitals), Hayes’ season is more than likely done. Hayes has produced 13 goals and 23 points in 64 games on the season. Despite spending time early in the season as a healthy scratch, Hayes has produced solid numbers in a mostly fourth line role. He was also recently nominated as the team’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy nominee. The award is given to the player who best exemplifies leadership and made significant contributions to the community. Hayes has one year left on his current deal and comes with a $3.5MM AAV (Philadelphia retains half of his salary).

Penguins Activate Kevin Hayes, Assign Vasily Ponomarev To AHL

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The Penguins will welcome back a veteran forward to their lineup tonight against Utah.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they have activated center Kevin Hayes off injured reserve.  To make room for him on the active roster, forward Vasily Ponomarev has been returned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Hayes is in his first season with Pittsburgh after St. Louis paid a second-round pick to offload the final two years of his deal (or at least half of it with Philadelphia retaining the other half) on the Penguins.  The 32-year-old is off to a bit of a quiet start as he has just three goals and one assist in his first 14 games.  However, he’s also averaging just 9:27 per night, by far a career-low.

A veteran of 727 career regular season appearances over parts of 11 years, Hayes has been a productive middleman at times and has five years of 44 or more points under his belt.  But with his playing time basically being limited to the fourth line so far this season, it’s unlikely that Hayes will get close to that mark, barring a change in role as the season progresses.

As for Ponomarev, he was recalled a week and a half ago and got into three games in that stretch, his first three games with Pittsburgh after they acquired him as part of the Jake Guentzel trade at last year’s trade deadline.  The 22-year-old was held off the scoresheet while averaging a little over nine minutes per game.

Ponomarev sustained an upper-body injury late in training camp, derailing any chance he had of making the opening roster and instead landed on season-opening IR until the end of October.  As a result, he hasn’t had much playing time with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton either and he has just one assist in five games at that level.  Still early in his development, consistent playing time will be needed and he’s likelier to get that at the AHL level than battling for fourth-line action with the big club.

Penguins Recall Samuel Poulin

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The Penguins announced that they have recalled right-winger Samuel Poulin from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Center Kevin Hayes was transferred to injured reserve to open an active roster spot.

Poulin, now 23, was Pittsburgh’s first-round selection in the 2019 draft. They selected him 21st overall, a tad higher than the consensus at the time, ahead of names like Connor McMichael and Shane Pinto. He’d been taken second overall in the QMJHL Entry Draft by the Sherbrooke Phoenix just two years prior, and he’d started his major junior career on the right foot with 45 goals, 76 assists, and 121 points through 122 appearances over two seasons before being plucked by the Penguins.

After another two years of high-end offensive performances in the Q, Poulin turned pro and began the 2021-22 season on assignment to WBS. Injuries and a lengthy leave of absence to focus on his mental health have limited his games played and overall performance significantly since then, though. 2022-23 was a low point – while he did make his NHL debut that season amid a three-game call-up, he was limited to just four goals in 15 AHL contests. Last year, though, he seemed to gain some traction back with 31 points (16 G, 15 A) in 41 appearances with the Baby Pens, the best point-per-game showing of his AHL career by a wide margin.

In 2024-25, Poulin was waiver-eligible for the first time, leading to a fair amount of speculation that he’d make the team out of camp purely out of fear of losing him on the wire. That didn’t happen, though, and Poulin cleared waivers without incident in early October and began the season back in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He’s got three goals and six assists for nine points in his first 11 games, tying him for second in scoring.

Poulin now looks to see NHL ice for the third year in a row after three-game showings in each of the last two seasons. In those combined six appearances, he has one assist, a -4 rating, four shots on goal and eight hits while going 13-for-29 on draws and averaging 8:53 per game. He’s no longer among the league’s top 100 prospects, but McKeen’s Hockey still ranks him as the seventh-best up-and-comer in the Pens’ system. He can remain on Pittsburgh’s roster for up to 30 days or play 10 games before he requires waivers again to head back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

As for Hayes, he was downgraded to week-to-week yesterday with an upper-body injury. The IR placement only rules him out for tonight’s game against the Stars, but he’ll miss more time than that.

Penguins’ Kevin Hayes Out Week-To-Week, Cody Glass Diagnosed With Concussion

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The Penguins have downgraded forward Kevin Hayes to week-to-week with his upper-body injury, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters (including Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Sullivan also confirmed that Cody Glass had been diagnosed with a concussion after landing on injured reserve on Friday.

Hayes has already missed two games with his upper-body injury, which he sustained last Tuesday against the Islanders, although it’s unclear which play. If the Pens need to open a roster spot, he can be placed on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 5, while a week-to-week designation starting today means he’ll likely miss at least Pittsburgh’s next four games.

The Penguins acquired the 32-year-old Hayes from the Blues in June, also landing a 2025 second-round pick to take on the final two years of the declining veteran’s contract, of which the Flyers are already retaining half. He’s made 14 appearances for the Penguins this season, notching three goals and an assist while averaging a career-low 9:27 per game.

Meanwhile, a concussion indicates a longer-term absence for Glass than the minimum seven days required for an IR placement. Like Hayes, it’s unclear exactly what play Glass sustained the concussion during his last appearance, a 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Thursday. He played a season-low 4:47 and did not take a shift after the first period.

Like Hayes, Glass had made 14 appearances for Pittsburgh before the injury, recording four assists and a -7 rating while averaging 11:48 per game. It’s the 25-year-old’s first season with the Pens, who acquired him in an August trade with the Predators.

Selected sixth overall by the Golden Knights in the 2017 draft, Glass has been deployed peculiarly in a more shutdown role with Pittsburgh, making a career-high 69% of his zone starts in the defensive end at even strength. He’s responded quite well, controlling 58.7% of shot attempts and 58.3% of expected goals, even if he hasn’t broken out yet offensively.

Metro Notes: Flyers, Romanov, Reilly, Hayes, Thompson

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As hinted earlier, the Philadelphia Flyers will be a little thin in the crease tonight. The organization announced that Aleksei Kolosov will not dress tonight due to a lower-body injury and Ivan Fedotov will make his fourth start of the season.

With Samuel Ersson still on the shelf with a lower-body injury, the Flyers needed to find a backup netminder for their contest tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The role will be filled by Kyle Konin whom the team has signed to an amateur tryout agreement for tonight’s game.

Konin hasn’t played competitively in quite some time and there’s no expectation he’ll play this evening. He last suited up in 2019-20 for the Grand Valley State Lakers playing in five games split between the university’s DII and DIII club teams. Konin also served as an emergency backup netminder for the Lightning and the St. Louis Blues although he did not play.

Other Metro notes:

  • The New York Islanders will still be light on the blue line with Andrew Gross of Newsday reporting defensemen Alexander Romanov and Mike Reilly won’t re-enter the lineup tonight. Both blue-liners haven’t played since the team’s November 1st game against the Buffalo Sabres as they’re both nursing injuries. Tonight marks the third game without the pair and the Islanders have surrendered eight total games in the two games without Romanov and Reilly.
  • The play-by-play voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Josh Getzoff, reports Kevin Hayes is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. This confirms Hayes won’t be in the lineup tonight as the Penguins take on the Carolina Hurricanes and should make him questionable for tomorrow’s contest against the Washington Capitals. Hayes’ absence won’t dramatically affect the Penguins’ lineup as he’s only averaging 9:27 of ice time in his first year with Pittsburgh.
  • We’re only a few weeks away from full rosters being announced for the 4 Nations Face-Off and one of the bigger topics of conversation has surrounded Team Canada’s goaltenders. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported earlier that Capitals’ netminder Logan Thompson has put himself on Team Canada’s radar with his solid start to the season. Thompson hasn’t recorded a loss yet this season after six starts and has managed a .903 save percentage. Should he find a spot on Team Canada’s roster, it’ll be Thompson’s first international play since the 2022 IIHF World Championships.

Penguins Notes: Acciari, Eller, Hayes

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Matt Vensel of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acciari will likely move from center to the wing this season as the Penguins try to squeeze more juice out of the 32-year-old’s game after a disappointing 2023-24 season. Acciari was signed to a three-year $6MM contract in July of 2023 with the expectation that he could center the Penguins’ fourth line, but the results were underwhelming, to say the least.

The Johnston, Rhode Island native dealt with injuries last season and didn’t contribute much offensively with just four goals and three assists in 55 games. He was okay defensively, but his possession numbers were abysmal with a CF% of 40% at even strength. He’s been mentioned as a trade candidate this summer, but it seems unlikely that Pittsburgh could find a taker. A move to the wing could benefit Acciari and allow him to get to his game better in his second year with the Penguins.

In other Penguins notes:

  • Matt Vensel also wonders if all of the forwards Pittsburgh brought in this summer might push them to trade Lars Eller. This is hardly the first time that Eller’s name has come up in trade talks this summer, and it doesn’t seem to be quieting as training camp nears. Eller served as the Penguins’ third-line center last year and filled in admirably, particularly given the lack of consistency when it came to his linemates. The 35-year-old posted 15 goals and 16 assists in 82 games and had good possession numbers, despite starting over 70% of his shifts in the defensive zone. While he does hold some value on the trade market, he remains one of Pittsburgh’s best options to dress as a third-line center.
  • If the Penguins do move on from Eller, newly acquired forward Kevin Hayes could be his replacement on the third line (as per Matt Vensel). Hayes couldn’t find a consistent role in St. Louis last season and his numbers dipped to a career-low 29 points (13 goals and 16 assists) in 79 games. The 32-year-old is just two years removed from a 54-point season in Philadelphia and could have a bounce-back season if he can carve out a consistent role with the Penguins.

Metro Notes: Hayes, Michkov, Devils

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Wes Crosby writes on NHL.com that newly acquired Pittsburgh Penguins forward Kevin Hayes has something to prove with his new team. Hayes was traded for the second consecutive summer, this time from the St. Louis Blues to the Penguins, as he plays out the final two seasons of the seven-year $50MM contract that he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers on June 18th, 2019.

The Flyers traded Hayes to the Blues last summer for a sixth-round pick and retained 50% of his cap hit, and the Blues dealt Hayes to Pittsburgh on July 1st along with a second-round pick in a salary cap dump. Penguins’ general manager Kyle Dubas has said that the Penguins expect Hayes to start the season at center, and given the Penguins’ depth, he will likely start on the third line. Hayes is coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons and posted a career-low 13 goals and 16 assists in 79 games last season.

Hayes told NHL.com that he is feeling inspired as he heads into his first season in Pittsburgh and believes that he needs to develop more of a shoot-first mentality to fit in with the team.

In other Metropolitan Division Notes:

  • Philadelphia Flyers top prospect Matvei Michkov has officially landed with the team after a 22-hour flight to the United States (team tweet). The 2023 seventh overall pick was greeted at the airport by Flyers general manager Danny Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones and wanted to get on the ice immediately but wasn’t able to. The 19-year-old forward signed his ELC three weeks ago and his arrival to Philadelphia comes much earlier than had been anticipated. Many believed it would be another two years before Michkov would play in North America, but with his release from SKA St. Petersburg a month ago, it cleared the way for him to make the move to the NHL.
  • James Nichols of NJ Hockey Now is reporting that the New Jersey Devils have invited defenseman Igor Mburanumwe to training camp this fall. Mburanumwe stands an imposing 6’5” tall and weighs 206 pounds. The 20-year-old spent most of his QMJHL career with the Victoriaville Tigres but was traded to the Acadie-Bathhurst Titan early last season and finished his junior career with the team. The Chambly, Quebec native doesn’t offer much offensively, having posted just nine goals and 29 assists in 188 QMJHL games, however, 20 of those points came last season in just 57 games with the Titan.

Penguins Acquire Kevin Hayes

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired center Kevin Hayes and St. Louis’ 2025 second-round pick, per Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff (Twitter link). Pittsburgh is sending future considerations the other way. No salary was retained, though Hayes’ cap hit is just $3.571MM, with Philadelphia retaining 50 percent of his original $7.143MM cap hit when they traded him to St. Louis.

The Blues quickly flip Hayes to the other side of Pennsylvania, just one year after they acquired him from the Flyers in exchange for a 2024 sixth-round pick. Hayes posted 13 goals and 29 points in 79 games with the Blues – a far cry from the career-high 54 points he managed in his final year with the Flyers. He was tasked as being St. Louis’ reliable, two-way forward on the second line, succeeding Ryan O’Reilly, and while Hayes did well at shutting play down in the middle of the ice – his pace wasn’t enough to inspire much.

But while he didn’t fill the right need in St. Louis, he could be exactly what Pittsburgh needs – offering predictable and reliable impact down the lineup at a relatively cheap cost. The Penguins are facing a cap crunch this summer, with three pending free agents, $7.174MM in cap space, and superstar Sidney Crosby eligible for an extension on July 1st. Hayes could assume the third-line center role behind Evgeni Malkin, making Lars Eller a bit more expendable should Pittsburgh be looking for other cap dumps.

Central Notes: Dadonov, Hakanpaa, Niederreiter, Toffoli, Hayes

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Injured Stars skaters Evgenii Dadonov and Jani Hakanpää haven’t yet returned to full team practices, but head coach Peter DeBoer is optimistic they’ll be options when the playoffs kick off on April 20, Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest reports. Both are sidelined with lower-body injuries, although only Dadonov is on long-term injured reserve. His role has been filled expertly by rookie Logan Stankoven, who’s mustered six goals and 12 points in 17 games since making his NHL debut in late February. The 35-year-old is only a season removed from being one of Dallas’ more important secondary scorers in last year’s run to the Western Conference Final, potting four goals and 10 points in 16 playoff games. However, he’s been limited to 23 points in 50 games this season after inking a two-year, $4.5MM extension to remain in Dallas over the summer. As such, there’s no guarantee he enters the playoff lineup ahead of Stankoven even if healthy, and the skill winger isn’t the best fit for a fourth-line role.

Hakanpää’s absence hasn’t been as lengthy, not suiting up since March 16 against the Kings. The 32-year-old Finn had been pushed down the depth chart anyway, thanks to the emergence of Thomas Harley in a top-pairing role and the acquisition of Chris Tanev from the Flames, taking him out of his usual second-pairing role alongside countryman Esa Lindell. When he returns to health, it’ll be in battle with Nils Lundkvist for bottom-pairing minutes alongside veteran anchor Ryan Suter. Still an incredibly competent shutdown blue-liner, Hakanpää has two goals and 12 points in 64 games this season, his third in the Lone Star State. His possession metrics remain below average but are still in an excusable range given his extreme defensive-zone usage at even strength, although his short-handed metrics have taken a tumble. He’s one of their most relied-upon penalty-killers when healthy, averaging 3:16 per game.

Other updates out of the Central:

  • Jets winger Nino Niederreiter will be out at least one week after sustaining a laceration on the back of his leg from a skate cut against the Kings on Monday, head coach Rick Bowness said today (via John Lu of TSN). Bowness called the injury “a pretty bad gash” and said it would have been more severe had Niederreiter not been wearing Kevlar socks. Niederreiter’s return timeline will keep him out of the next three games, but he could re-enter the lineup in a key battle for playoff positioning against the Stars next Thursday. The 31-year-old has once again excelled as a remarkably consistent two-way middle-six winger, potting 18 goals and 33 points in 75 games this year in spite of slightly reduced minutes. He potted four points in five games in Winnipeg’s first-round loss to the Golden Knights last year and will be a secondary X-factor if Winnipeg wants to escape a likely showdown with the Avalanche in a few weeks. Niederreiter will be replaced in tomorrow’s lineup against the Flames by trade-deadline pickup Tyler Toffoli, Bowness confirmed. He’d missed Winnipeg’s tilt against Los Angeles with an illness. Toffoli has been a solid pickup for Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, scoring four goals and two assists for six points in 11 games. He’s now reached the 30-goal plateau in back-to-back seasons for the first time.
  • Blues center Kevin Hayes has the flu and is questionable for a practically do-or-die game against the Predators tomorrow, Lou Korac of NHL.com reports. He’s expected to travel with the club as they embark on a three-game road trip, though, and could return soon after if he misses the Nashville contest. Their already slim postseason chances would drop to around 1% with a regulation loss and 2% with an overtime loss, per MoneyPuck. They’re three points back of the Kings for the final wild-card spot in the West with one more game played, although L.A. is on a three-game losing streak. Hayes has disappointed after coming over in an offseason trade from the Flyers, notching 13 goals and 29 points in 75 games in a bottom-six role. It’s the worst offensive output of his 10-year career by a significant margin. If he’s unable to suit up against the Preds, Nikita Alexandrov and Zachary Bolduc are both extras on hand and available to enter the lineup.

Philadelphia Flyers Willing To Take On Salary

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Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period is reporting that the Philadelphia Flyers are prepared to weaponize their cap space to acquire additional assets. The Flyers begin today with less than $1MM in salary cap space, a number that would translate to roughly $3.9MM at the NHL trade deadline. Now that number might not seem significant, but the Flyers can easily free up over $6MM by placing defenseman Ryan Ellis on LTIR, something they’ve been hesitant to do thus far, but are willing to do to make a trade work.

After years of being slammed up against the salary cap, the Flyers have finally created roster and salary cap flexibility after a summer in which they moved on from veterans Kevin Hayes, Tony DeAngelo, and Ivan Provorov. General Manager Daniel Briere seems fully committed to rebuilding the Flyers and appears willing to take on undesirable contracts in exchange for future assets.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported just two weeks ago that the Flyers were open to taking on Ottawa Senators forward Mathieu Joseph and his $2.95MM cap hit in exchange for a high prospect or a first-round pick, something Ottawa appears uninterested in entertaining. However that could change if they start the season slow without their second and third-line centres.

While a Joseph deal hasn’t materialized the Flyers will likely have their pick of suitors as the flat cap has created a financial landscape in which 19 NHL teams are within $1MM of the salary cap ceiling (including Philadelphia). There are a lot of teams that see themselves as Stanley Cup contenders who will be hard-pressed to make in-season improvements unless they can move out some salary, this is where the Flyers cap space could be leveraged to acquire assets.

The Flyers are early in their rebuild and are at least three or four years away from turning the corner. With that in mind, any contract they take on will probably fall into the one to three-year range similar to the contract they acquired with Cal Petersen. Philadelphia has several of their own undesirable contracts as well as over $5MM in dead cap space for the next few seasons in the DeAngelo buyout and the retained salary on Hayes.

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